Chronology

The Law Society of Upper Canada in context: a chronology

William Osgoode, after whom Osgoode Hall is named, is the first Chief Justice of Upper Canada

1797

The Parliament of Upper Canada passes a statute permitting lawyers to organize a society "to be called The Law Society of Upper Canada"

The Law Society is organized at Wilson's Hotel in Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake) by 15 members of the Bar

1799-1832

With no permanent seat, the Law Society conducts business in a variety of public offices in the town of York (now the capital of Upper Canada), sometimes holding meetings in the private residences of benchers or public officials

1800

John White, first Law Society Treasurer and Attorney General of Upper Canada, is killed in a duel

1801

The first student-at-law is formally entered on the Law Society's Rolls

1804

The schooner the HMS Speedy sinks off Presqu'ile Point en route to a trial in Newcastle, killing all aboard, including the Law Society's Treasurer Angus Macdonell, Solicitor General and Law Society bencher Robert Isaac Dey Gray and law student John Anderson

1820

The Law Society disbars its first lawyer

1821

The Juvenile Advocate Society is founded

1822

The Law Society is incorporated by statute of the Parliament of Upper Canada, and is now authorized to hold land

The Law Society gives up jurisidiction over attorneys, a type of lawyer similar to a solicitor but retains it for barristers and solicitors

1826

The population of Upper Canada is 166,379

1828

The Law Society purchases six acres from the Attorney General, John Beverley Robinson (later Chief Justice), outside the town of York for 1,000 pounds, for the purpose of building permanent quarters

1829

Construction begins on what is now the east wing of Osgoode Hall

1830s

Osgoode Hall's neighbourhood is a rather poor district. The building is still in the suburbs of Toronto

1830

The population of Upper Canada is 213,156

1832

The Law Society moves into Osgoode Hall

The Law Society hires James Martin Cawdell as Secretary and Librarian, the Society's first staff member

1833

The east wing of Osgoode Hall is enlarged to the west

The first edition of the Law Society's Rules are published

1834

The city of Toronto is incorporated (population 9,300)

1837

Upper Canada Rebellion

1837-1843

Osgoode Hall houses troops following the 1837 Rebellion. In 1843, the Law Society considers suing the government which refuses to pay the full cost of damages to the building

1833

Lawyers Allan MacNab, John Cartwright and Henry Sherwood are the first to be awarded the honour of Queen's Counsel (QC) in Upper Canada

1840s

Toronto is now a highly commercial city. It has busy steamboat activity, its main streets are gaslit and sewered. King St. is the main east-west artery of the period, while Yonge St. is the city's main south-north axis

1841

Provincial legislation is passed that requires county and district court judges to be barristers (previously, non-lawyers or lawyers who were solicitors only could be appointed)

1844-1846

A west wing and centre portion are completed for Osgoode Hall. The courts move in.

1851

The population of Upper Canada is 952,004

Toronto is now linked by rail to New York, Montreal, Georgian Bay, Detroit, and Chicago

1853

The Brant Law Association is the first of the county and district law associations to be incorporated (the next ones would not be until 1879)

1855

Robert Sutherland, Ontario's first Black lawyer, is called to the bar

1857-1860

The central part of Osgoode Hall is enlarged and the dome removed. The Courts of Common Pleas and Queen's Bench were constructed. The Library and the Rotunda are built

1857

The Law Society regains jurisdiction over attorneys, and now has authority to regulate all status of lawyers in the province (attorneys, solicitors and barristers)

1862

Establishment of the first official law school at Osgoode Hall

1867

Confederation. The province of Ontario is created and Toronto is made the capital (but the Law Society does not consider changing its name to the Law Society of Ontario, for unknown reasons)

The fence around Osgoode Hall is built

1868

The first law school closes

1869

Opening of the Eaton's department store

1871

The population of Ontario is 1,620,251. The largest cities are, in order, Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa, London and Kingston

First democratic election of benchers by the lawyers of Ontario

1872

The Law Society establishes the second official law school at Osgoode Hall

1874

The Law Society transfers ownership of parts of Osgoode Hall and the land to the Government of Ontario

1878

The Law Society closes down the second law school

1881

Convocation Hall (the Osgoode Restaurant) is completed. It is the first addition dedicated to the Law School.

The Ontario Judicature Act abolishes attorneys; all practitioners with this status become solicitors if they were not already

The third law school opens at Osgoode Hall (to continue on a year-to-year basis until 1889 when the fouth and final law school is established)

1884

John O'Connor, Jr., of Irish descent, is the first Roman Catholic appointed an Ontario judge

1885

Completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR)

1886

Delos Roget Davis, after a lengthy struggle, becomes the second Black lawyer called to the bar in Ontario (after Robert Sutherland in 1855)

1886

Construction is started on the legislature at Queen's Park

1889

The fourth (and final) law school opens at Osgoode Hall - becomes known as Osgoode Hall Law School

1897

Admission of Clara Brett Martin - first woman lawyer in British Commonwealth. See Crossing the Bar

1901

Death of Queen Victoria

The population of Ontario is 2,182,947

1907

The Ontario branch of the Canadian Bar Association is formed (later to be incorporated as the Ontario Bar Association in 1985)

1908

Henry Ford builds his first Model-T. Beginning of mass-production of automobile

1911

Niagara Falls is harnessed to produce cheap energy for more factory growth

The position of "life bencher" is created by the Law Society to recognize long-service benchers and open up the bencher elections to more non-incumbents

1912

The Titanic sinks off the coast of Newfoundland

1914

Toronto is the second metropolis of Canada, competing with older and larger Montreal. From there on, Toronto grows rapidly. By 1951, Greater Toronto's population rises to over a million

1914-1918

World War I

1919

The Lawyers' Club is founded

1928

The Law Society unveils a memorial, in Osgoode Hall's Great Library, to lawyers and students-at-law who died in service during World War I (designed by Francis Loring)

The first edition of the Osgoode Hall School student newspaper Obiter Dicta is published

1929

The Great Depression begins

1934

Ontario lawyer Helen Kinnear is appointed King's Counsel - the first woman in the British Commonwealth to be awarded the honour of either King's (KC) or Queen's (QC) Counsel (QC)

1938

A three-storey addition to the east of the east wing of Osgoode Hall provides more room for the Law Society (the law school)

Norman Lickers, Ontario's first Native lawyer, is called to the bar

1939-1945

World War II

1943

Helen Kinnear is appointed judge of the Haldimand County Court, making her the first federally appointed woman judge in Canada (and also the first woman to hold such an appointment in the British Commonwealth)

The first continuing legal education program is offered by the Law Society - in the form of lectures and a "refresher" program for those returning from service in World War II.

1947

The Reading Law Club is formed by Jewish members of the Ontario bar; the Club would eventually merge with the Lawyers' Club in the 1960s, a process that began after the latter rescinded most of its restrictions on admitting anyone who was not white, Christian, male and under 40 in 1952 (women were finally admitted in 1974)

1949

The "Controversy of 1949" - Dean "Caesar" Wright and almost all the Osgoode Hall Law School faculty resign because of differences with the Law Society benchers over approaches to legal education; this event ushers in fundamental changes to how lawyers are trained and admitted to the bar in Ontario

1950

The Law Society establishes a pro bono legal aid plan in conjunction with the county and district law associations (would evolve into the Ontario Legal Aid Plan)

1951

The population of Ontario is 4,597,542

The Law Society unveils a memorial to lawyers and students-at-law who died while in service during World War II (in the Rotunda of Osgoode Hall, designed by Cleeve Horne)

1953

The Law Society establishes a compensation fund, supported by annual contributions from the lawyers of Ontario, to assist clients who suffer financial loss due to lawyer dishonesty

1956-1959

Further addition to the north of the 1838 addition of Osgoode Hall for teaching purposes

1957

The option to practice as a "barrister" or "solicitor" only ends for all practical purposes when the Law Society allows lawyers to automatically become both (most had already opted to do so for many decades); by 1964, the current practice of admitting every lawyer as both a barrister and a solicitor was formalized (there is still a separate process for call to the bar as a barrister by the Law Society and swearing in as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of Ontario but they have been conducted jointly as part of the call to the bar process for many decades)

1959

Following a lengthy review of legal education by Convocation after the events of 1949, the Law Society establishes the Bar Admission Course (BAC) (consisting of an articling period, classroom instruction and examinations); admission to the BAC requires some under-graduate university training and an LLB or equivalent - for the first time in its history, the Law Society recognizes the degrees of other law schools, not just its own

1960

Following the changes made in 1959, the first Osgoode Hall Law School class graduates with bachelor of law (LLB) degrees, in addition to the degree of barrister-at-law awarded upon call to the bar of Ontario

Using its new degree-granting powers, the Law Society awards its first honorary doctorate of laws (LLD) to John Delatre Falconbridge.

1963

The Advocates' Society is founded

Abraham Lieff becomes a justice of the Ontario High Court of Justice, the first Jewish lawyer to be appointed to an Ontario superior court

1967

Creation of the Ontario Legal Aid Plan, administered by the Law Society and funded by the Ontario government and the lawyers of Ontario

1968

Osgoode Hall Law School moves to York University; the Law Society's educational focus is now on post-law school training - delivery of the Bar Admission Course and continuing legal education programs

1971

Mabel Van Camp becomes a justice of the Ontario Supreme Court's High Court of Justice - the first woman to be appointed to an Ontario superior court

First bencher election to incorporate regional representation (half of the benchers elected had to be from outside Toronto) >

1970-1973

Major renovations to Osgoode Hall; Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II reopens the building

1974

The first lay (non-lawyer) benchers are appointed by the Ontario government to represent the public interest at Convocation

1975

Laura Legge is elected the first woman Law Society bencher

1980

CDLPA (County and District Law Presidents' Association) is founded

1983

Laura Legge is elected the first woman Treasurer of the Law Society

1986

Lawyer disciplinary hearings begin to be heard in public (with a provision that a hearing can be held in camera under specific and limited circumstances)

1988

The first public meeting of Convocation is held in Ottawa (the first meeting outside of Osgoode Hall since 1832); following a brief trial period in 1988, a policy of open or public Convocation meetings is formalized (with a provision for in camera sessions to protect personal privacy and for consideration of confidential matters)

1989-1992

The fourth, fifth and sixth floors are added to the Law Society's education wing

1990

The Lawyers Professional Indemnity Company (LPIC) is incorporated; owned by the Law Society, it is established as a separate body in order to provide the best quality of liability insurance to Ontario's lawyers

1991

Pre-1960 Osgoode Hall Law School graduates are offered LLB degrees from York University

1997

The Law Society celebrates its bicentennial

1998

The Ontario Legal Aid Plan becomes Legal Aid Ontario, an agency of the Ontario government (with Law Society representatives on its board of directors)

1999

The first bencher election is held under an expanded regional representation formula

2001

LibraryCo. is established to manage the network of county and district law libraries

2006

The population of Ontario is 12,160,282

The Bar Admission Course is replaced by the Licensing Process (articling and examinations, ending classroom instruction)

2007

With the passage of the Ontario government's Bill 14, the mandate of the Law Society now includes the regulation of paralegals

2008

First paralegal licences issued by the Law Society

2010

First paralegals elected to the Paralegal Standing Committee by the paralegals of Ontario, and the first two paralegal benchers elected to Convocation by the Committee